Child
by Blood Sucking Fox
Summary: She's been searching for him since he left the village. And a single chance encounter gives her the unwanted realization that nothing can go back to how it was. onesided Sasuke/OC


Okay. So, first update in five months... And this was actually written in... August 2011 I believe. So it doesn't really count. But it's one of my absolute favorite one-shots I've ever written. It's a little short, but y'know, that's ok. I think it conveys what I wanted it to convey very well. ^^ I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Blood Sucking Fox in NO WAY owns, nor claims to own, _Naruto_.

_*Note: This was originally posted on Jamlyfics under Z's username_ Shade _in August 2011 as part of the _Chance and Trouble_ one-shot collection.*_

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><p>"There is only so fast a person can run before what they're running from catches up. There is only so far a person can travel before they're back where they started. There is only so much time in a person's life before life comes to an end," someone once told me.<p>

I hadn't completely understood them at the time, but I did when I ran into him again. I'd caught up. I stood near where it all began. And for all I knew at the time, that might very well have been my end.

He stood across the field, glaring coolly at me with those gorgeous crimson eyes flecked with black. His hair had not changed with time... nor his temperament. Only his clothing, now a loose robe tied around his waist with rope, and that katana he clutched menacingly hadn't been there when I'd spied him saying goodbye to Sakura. I had received no such parting scene. I'd stayed behind as the shinobi hunted him down. Sat alone and cried when they came back empty-handed. Lay awake at night wondering what had happened to him.

That had changed. Now I was one of them. And it was my job to bring him in or die trying.

"Why are you here, Hisoka?" The whispered growl floated over to me on the slight breeze. The giant bow aimed straight at him wavered in my hand and I lowered it. I couldn't see straight. There were too many tears waiting to fall. I trembled all over. Lifting a hand to wipe away the impending drops, I looked up at the boy who used to come into my parent's shop daily. We hadn't been the best of friends, per se, but we'd had mutual understanding. I made the mistake of growing to love him, and had to watch as that damn kunoichi received the goodbye that was supposed to be mine.

"I don't know anymore, Sasuke." I dropped the bow, but had to resist the urge to run to him as I had when older boys had picked on me. My shoulders trembled, and the forest was silent as we stared across the clearing at one another. He would kill me if I ran to the sanctuary of his arms that he'd taken from me.

"You should be fighting in the war like the rest of them," he stated coldly. I touched my forehead protector lightly; it was not the one of the joint shinobi army that had come into existence to fight the army of Akatsuki's creation. I wasn't really a shinobi anyway; I'd only become one to search for the man that now stood before me.

I took a step forward and watched the tension ripple through Sasuke's every muscle as he readied for a fight. Thinking better of continuing my advance, I soaked in every detail of his face: his hair, his nose, his mouth, his chin, and his eyes. Those beautiful crimson and black eyes. I couldn't stop studying them. I would remember. Remember every detail. Because, chances were that I'd never see him again.

Sakura had given up, wised up, knew better than to try and bring him back to his senses. But I wasn't ready to give in. I wanted to be with Sasuke no matter the costs. "I didn't become a shinobi to fight in a war," I whimpered, dropping the arrow that accompanied my bow.

Sasuke remained motionless as the wind began to pick up. He was still rigid as a board, his stare just as icy.

"I became one to find you." I took another step forward, and was greeted with a blade at the throat. Electricity was not yet coursing down the blade, but that would come next if I was any more reckless. "I want to join you, Sasuke. I'm tired of searching. I just want to be with you. I want to feel safe again, like I did when we were children." I smiled a very distant, watery smile; I could no longer see his face because it was so blurry, but I knew it. I knew his face now, and I wouldn't forget it. Tears ran down my cheeks unchecked. I reached my hands out weakly to try and find the warm refuge I'd been searching for.

The blade retreated and so did the warm body. A lump formed in my throat, and a sob escaped despite my attempt at composure. I knew it was a lost cause from the moment I didn't earn a goodbye. I dropped to my knees and put my head in my hands. I was exposed, the perfect target in the middle of the meadow. And so what if he killed me? At least I wouldn't continue to seek something I could never again have.

A silent shadow eclipsed the dying sun. I looked up at Sasuke. His expression was still hard as steel while he knelt down next to me. His blade had been sheathed, but a hand rested on the hilt. We locked eyes for several seconds. His crimson sharingan were familiar and foreign at the same time. The emotions read just as his onyx ones had so long ago, but were older; they knew more.

I hiccupped once. "Please Sasuke..." I raised my hands in an attempt to hug him. I bent forward and succeeded in meeting his body, rigid with tension. Latching on tightly to the warmth, I cried some more. "Take me with you."

His black hair tickled my face when I'd stopped crying. Sasuke was still kneeling, but hadn't returned my embrace. But he hadn't pushed me away, either. Now he took my shoulder with one hand and leveled me to an upright position, so we were gazing at each other again. Moving his hand from my shoulder to my cheek, he wiped away a single tear that hadn't quite dripped off of my chin, the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of his lips. This was just like years ago, when I'd come crying to him about bullies. My heart fluttered as he bent forward, watching me impassively, just as he always had. The ghost of a smile was completely gone. He whispered in my ear, his hot breath sending tingles down to my toes, "Go home Hisoka."

He stood and was gone. I crouched forward, clutching my stomach and cried again. I'd felt safe for the first time in ages for those few stolen moments, just like I used to. But I knew that would be the last time I would ever get that close to him.


End file.
